1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to dispensers, and particularly to a dispenser for crushed and cubed ice which prevents bridging and freezing together of the ice within a storage bin or chamber of the dispenser.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that crushed and cubed ice, and all other similar types of fragmentary ice, will bridge and freeze together when stored in a bin, making it almost impossible to get the ice out of the bin when desired to dispense same in small amounts.
By "bridging" is meant that when a tunnel is excavated under the ice, such as commonly happens when only a single screw conveyor is employed to move the ice toward a discharge opening associated with the bin, the excavation will cause the rest of the ice to hold itself up and freeze together. The only way to release this bridge is to poke it with a suitable instrument, or to provide some sort of agitator within the bin. Such agitators are undesirable because they will break up the ice into small undesired pieces in the process of breaking up the bridge.
Examples of conventional ice dispenser construction can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos: 3,225,968, issued Dec. 28, 1965, to W. G. Winkler, et al.; 3,348,657, issued Oct. 24, 1967, to W. H. Hall, et al; and 3,570,720, issued Mar. 16, 1971, to R. W. Curry, III. These known ice dispensing devices employ one or more augers, or screw conveyors, to move ice from a storage area to a dispensing outlet, but all of these devices, however, work on the concept of breaking up bridged or clumped ice as it is being fed to the dispensing outlet. This manner of breaking up the bridged or clumped ice can result in damage to the discrete forms of the crushed or cubed ice as mentioned above.